KP govt extends stipend programme for school girls

PESHAWAR: The KP caretaker government on Thursday extended to 2025 the monthly stipend programme for the girl students at schools in the merged districts.

The approval was given at a meeting of the caretaker cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Syed Arshad Hussain Shah, said a handout. The chief secretary, additional chief secretary Home, relevant administrative secretaries, and other officials attended the meeting. The cabinet okayed the extension of the monthly stipend programme for girl students from classes VI to XII.

The initiative provides scholarships to 32,833, 37,758, and 43,422 girl students in the years 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively, with a total estimated project cost of Rs 940.5 million.The cabinet endorsed the proposal to link scholarship disbursement with student performance and examination results, requiring a minimum attendance of 70 pc.

The approval was granted for allocating two kanals of land in Jamrud Tehsil in the Khyber district for building offices and residential structures of the federal government institutions.The cabinet sanctioned the establishment of a welfare fund for prisoners and prison employees, with a focus on skill development. Under this initiative, 30 pc of the income generated from products made in jails would be allocated to inmates, thus enabling them to acquire skills and achieve financial independence upon release. The cabinet okayed the nomination of representatives from Peshawar, Mardan, and Dera Ismail Khan districts to represent farmers on the Cane and Sugar Beet Control Board.

Similarly, names for the board of directors of Water and Sanitation Services Company Peshawar were approved as well.Additionally, post-facto approval was granted to the Department of Auqaf, Religious Affairs, and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority for emergency aid provided to the victims of the Jaranwala accident in September, this year.

The cabinet renamed Government Higher Secondary School Pind Hashim Khan in Haripur district to Shaheed Uzair Afsar Government Higher Secondary School to honour Uzair Afsar of the Pakistan Army.The provincial cabinet gave the go-ahead to the creation of district education officer positions for both male and female in the newly established district of Lower South Waziristan.